For 350 years, the Royal Society has called on the world's biggest brains to unravel the mysteries of science. Its president, Martin Rees, considers today's big issues, while leading thinkers describe the puzzles they would love to see solved.

So our new policy, adopted last week (wherever you are in the world), is to omit time references such as last night, yesterday, today, tonight and tomorrow from guardian.co.uk stories. If a day is relevant (for example, to say when a meeting is going to happen or happened) we will state the actual day – as in "the government will announce its proposals in a white paper on Wednesday [rather than 'tomorrow']" or "the government's proposals, announced on Wednesday [rather than 'yesterday'], have been greeted with a storm of protest".

Paul McCartney recalls the making of Wings' Band on the Run – and reveals a scoop about Linda and the Beatles

Next month, the ex-Beatle would have been 70. Here, a writer who knew him in his prime reflects on Lennon's enduring importance and how he might have reacted to events since his death – from 9/11 to Britpop and the advent of Twitter

He is a No 1 bestseller who is also hailed as the foremost literary novelist of his generation. Nine years after the phenomenal success of The Corrections, has Jonathan Franzen pulled off the same feat with his new novel?

A nice history of the nutmeg and mace trade (much more interesting than it sounds): http://bit.ly/bZPAi9 /via @guardianfood

"We're experiencing a moment in which the humans are regaining some control over what gets filtered around the web," says Armstrong. "Twitter and Facebook are critical to driving traffic for publishers, and people like to share stories that are thoughtful or unique. These stories are a bit more evergreen than breaking news – they live longer lives and get passed around."

Do you have a passion for pesto? What's your favourite recipe, and is there any better way to eat it than with linguine and green beans?

With the opening of stores in the north of England, Tony Naylor has been compelled to reassess his distaste for Waitrose. Is it the standard by which all supermarkets should be judged?

The always-excellent Jonathan Wilson on the development of tactics, and their symmetry - or lack of it: "England's lack of a natural left-winger is often seen to be their weakness, but Fabio Capello has turned it into an advantage."